Buy it... if you can wade through all the juvenile and
underdeveloped music by Robert Rodriguez and Graeme Revell to get to
several strong and occasionally beautiful interpretations of that same
music by John Debney.

Avoid it... if ten minutes of that impressive Debney material isn't
worth the mass of continuing disappointment coming from Rodriguez's
themes and Revell's equally poor rendering of those themes.

Editorial Review:

Written
12/3/05 - Filmtracks Rank: #961

Revell

Debney

Rodriguez

The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D:
(Robert Rodriguez/Graeme Revell/John Debney) Director Robert Rodriguez
has an important decision to make about his career. Is he going to
continue producing gripping, mature pictures such as El Mariachi
and Sin City? Or is he going to let his apparent fetish for video
game-inspired kiddie adventures with wannabe rock star pre-teens destroy
his career? These Spy Kids types of films really are becoming a
borderline form of fetish for Rodriguez, and his methodology of
producing them often results in an awkward situation regarding the music
for the pictures. To label it plainly: Rodriguez is an equal-opportunity
employer when it comes to his scores. It is easy to accept the premise
that Rodriguez prefers to write the primary themes for his films but
does not have the time or expertise to flesh them out to the levels
necessary for the finished product. There's nothing wrong with getting
some assistance for the score-writing duties, and Rodriguez proved with
Sin City that the process can actually work to a film's benefit.
Some critics have argued that the director's musical abilities are
severely lacking, although that would be too simplistic and unfair an
argument against Rodriguez. His themes are simplistic, true, but so are
most themes that are badly rendered, and it is that rendering problem
that plagues much of Rodriguez's music. But then there's Once a Time
in Mexico, a more daring and far more authentic score written by
Rodriguez alone. So at best, the entire situation is a soupy mess,
compounded by Rodriguez's insistence in committee scoring that has
included even Danny Elfman and Harry Gregson-Williams. Rodriguez's best
move came when he garnered the support of John Debney for his second
Spy Kids score; since then, it has been Debney's contributions to
all of these Rodriguez films and scores that have easily overshadowed
the music by other contributors.

The score for The Adventures of Sharkboy and
Lavagirl in 3-D has received a universal trashing from nearly every
reputable soundtrack reviewer, and it's easy to understand why. The
whole endeavor seems juvenile. There's no point. Reading Rodriguez's
comments about each successive project becomes an even more
head-scratching event. This time, there are film producer's daughters
writing music for the film and Rodriguez's own personal theme for his
son contained in other portions. At some point, you have to draw a line
and recognize that "having fun" sometimes produces nothing more than a
mess. And we won't even go into the technical issues involving the 3-D
elements in the film. As for the score specifically, Rodriguez's themes
for the two fantasy heroes are extremely simplistic and suffer from the
kind of synthetic renderings that you would expect to hear from the
furthermost amateur corners of experimentation with a sampler on an
iMac. Rodriguez's material isn't horrible, but it is cliche, tired, and
in desperate need of some instrumental depth. After the success of
Sin City, Rodriguez brings in the ultimate "sport fun" buddy-pals
to help him with certain sequences. Graeme Revell, the master of
industrial sound design, employs his synthesizer to provide slightly
beefed up versions of the same underdeveloped themes that Rodriguez
introduced. Revell's job in providing action music for Mr. Electric is
surprisingly lackluster, and he even seems to have expanded Rodriguez's
theme for his own piano meanderings in The Fog later in the year.
The least surprising part of this score is that you know immediately
--without a doubt-- when John Debney's contribution starts. From the
opening blast of rhythm in "Train of Thought," you're reminded that
Debney's talents dwarf that of Rodriguez (understandably) and Revell
(maybe he just isn't putting any real effort into these Rodriguez
scores?).

Debney's variant on Rodriguez's themes are amazingly
different in their superior rendering, with a (still synthetic)
instrumental depth sadly lacking in the rest of the score. The opening
of "Train of Thought" is straight from the same vein as The
Tuxedo, and while scores like that aren't considered among Debney's
best, they still put The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in
3-D in perspective. The high string performances of Rodriguez's
theme are vastly improved, and along with a choral mix, the cue is
highly enjoyable. Similarly, Debney's cues are frustratingly enticing
compared to the rest of the album, with "The Ice Princess" presenting
some tingling beauty in its string performances. Debney's assistance on
the two finale cues leads to some bravado of Scorpion King levels
and simple choral melody that would appeal to any Danny Elfman fan. He
even layers the two themes for the primary characters over each other in
the kind of fashion that only a composer of Debney's experience would
think to do for such a trashy project as this. Overall, even with some
simply brilliant work by Debney to try to save this score (although it's
doubtful he or Rodriguez would phrase it like that), it's difficult to
recommend it. Rodriguez once again asks his child stars to sing rock
songs for the film, and it seems that this idea hit the pinnacle with
Sylvester Stallone and Alexa Vega in Spy Kids 3-D, for the songs
in this film are complete trash by comparison. It doesn't help that the
little superheroes simply can't sing. And the song written by the
daughter of Dimension Films' head Bob Weinstein ("The Lala's") is
insufferable. Perhaps this is all best summarized by the fact that
Rodriguez's 7-year-old conjured the story. And his name is Racer Max.
How does John Debney cope with all of this? His Papal blessing from the
Vatican in 2005 was well deserved. Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download